Summary: Hormonal Contraception (Evra Patch) and Risk of Death

Study found that since 2004, there have been 16 documented cases of blood clots and one heart attack in Evra patch users in Canada. Two of the 17 reported patients died as a result of using the patch.

• According to an article featured in the January 2008 issue of Health Canada’s Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter, there have been 16 documented cases of blood clots and one heart attack in Evra patch users since its arrival on the Canadian market in 2004. Two of the 17 reported patients died as a result of using the patch. One of the two deaths was that of a 16-year-old female who had begun to use the Evra birth control patch about 1-2 months before her death. Most of the 93 total adverse reactions received were from women who were in their teens, 20s or early 30s. In 2006, new labeling requirements that warn women of the patch’s higher risk of blood clots versus the pill were issued by Health Canada.¹

¹Evra: Myocardial Infarction and Thromboembolic Adverse Reactions, Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter, Vol. 18, Issue 1, January 2008, pp. 3-4.